Young collectors, get inspired by this Christie’s auction …and keep your “Eyes wide open”!

 

“Eyes Wide Open: An Italian Vision” is the title of the unconventional auction which will take place on 11 February at Christie’s in London. The leitmotif of the sale seems to be Italy, which some insiders – probably driven by some hedge found manager – recognize as an “emerging” country, with regards to art from the Seventies. The collection – it’s not sure yet whether it is the one by Nerio and Marina Fossati, as the Telegraph reports – includes more than a hundred artworks, acquired by the Lombard couple over the past 25 years. It gathers together pieces by the most prominent exponents of the Italian Arte Povera movement, ranging from its founders – Burri, Fontana, Manzoni and Melotti to some contemporary artists, who had been influenced by the italian revolutionary group – Kapoor and Eliasson, to name a few.

 

With an estimation of £25 million, this auction might as well mark a turning point in the history of Arte Povera on the market, somehow always dismissed by collectors and investors. It is for a fact that the trend has been changing over the past years and a great interest for the artworks produced during the 1960s and 70s in Italy appears to be growing. The last evidence to support this thesis can be pinpointed in the results of the annual Italian modern art auctions of year 2013, where just Christie’s records a sale for £27 million.

 

There are at least two reasons that have attracted CFA’s attention to this sale. The first one regards the way Christie’s has conceived the auction catalogue. Art curators and artists have been involved in the writings – although it is missing the name of the most important one, Germano Celant. The second reason lies in the collection itself. When collectors manage to work with such a serious and coherent attitude, the result can’t be nothing but positive. This auction embodies a great example for future generation of collectors.

January 31, 2014